Apple, Samsung now account for an ‘astounding’ 103% of mobile industry profits

We’ve all heard the phrase “winner take all,” but now Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (005930) have gone a step further by taking more than all the combined profits generated by the entire mobile industry in 2012. The latest research from Canaccord Genuity shows that the twin titans of the smartphone industry accounted for 103% of all profits among handset vendors last year, a share that Canaccord describes as “astounding.”

How were Apple and Samsung able to capture more than all smartphone profits in 2012, you ask? Well, it helps that big-name competitors BlackBerry (BBRY), Nokia (NOK) and Motorola all lost month last year. And since Canaccord is calculating industry profits by adding up the mobile device operating margins for every major smartphone vendor, it’s possible for Apple and Samsung profits to haul in more than a total profit figure that has been reduced by operating losses from competitors. For the record, the only smartphone vendor besides Apple and Samsung to post a mobile operating margin share of greater than 0% was HTC (2498), which accounted for 1% of all mobile profits in 2012.